wrestlingscout's media reviews. From books and documentaries to shoot interviews and matches, I'll review the best (and sometimes the worst) that pro-wrestling has to offer.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Straight Shootin' with Jim Cornette - Konnan

The Good
Talk about the odd couple of odd couples. Here is Jim Cornette, 40-something, Southern-style rasslin' performer and historian paired with lucha libre legend and former WCW and TNA undercarder Konnan. How do these two communicate? Very well actually. Cornette, while not a lucha expert, shows that he's done his homework and directs Konnan through an interview respectfully and with his unique appeal. Konnan, in sharp contrast to his on-screen persona, is well-spoken, thoughtful and insightful, so that he is able to work well with Corny. I don't think this worked as good as Konnan and Bryan Alvarez or even Dave Meltzer, but there was something unique here that is undeniable. Cornette pulls in his own experiences of Nick Gulas using Mexicans on the cheap, Vince McMahon working with Antonio Pena and WCW not knowing how to introduce and properly book distinct stars to get thoughts out of Konnan that you've never heard before. He shared for the first time, according to him, the fact that he had to go back to "hustling on the streets" in between his WCW and NWA-TNA runs, which was a big shock. Overall, I went in expecting a train-wreck of sorts, but got a gem of sorts instead.

The Bad
Like I said and as you'd expect, Jim Cornette is no lucha libre historian or even regular connoisseur, so his perspectives are limited in a way. He and Konnan have a good rapport, but this is lacking in comparison to Corny with Bill Watts, Percy Pringle, Bobby Heenan, etc. I actually think Konnan works better with Meltzer because he knows that Dave knows his stuff, even though Dave lacks Cornette's interviewing savvy. Konnan seems to hold back some as a result and while it makes for a different type of Konnan interview, it is not necessarily better. In some ways it is worse because he does not go into as much detail, Cornette is inconsistent in follow-up questions and something just seems amiss.